The Marana School District governing board made it official Thursday night. The gym at Marana High School is now known as, “The Norman Patton Gymnasium.”
Some publications credit the legendary basketball coach with only two state championships but, in only eight years, Norm Patton led the Tigers to six conference titles, three state championships and two runner-up finishes with a record of 158-35:
1966 (17-7) runner-up
1968 (18-4) runner-up
1969 (24-0)
1970 (24-5)
1972 (25-0)
Our AllSportsTucson.com Southern Arizona Boy’s Coach of the Year is given his honor.
Norm passed away in 2016 and It was my honor to sit down with Norm and his wife Sandra before his passing. Norm is a big part of what I do here at AllSportsTucson.com. When I started out about 12 years ago I told him I was going to do “no harm” to the kids I covered. Only positive. He asked me how I was going to handle the coaches.
I promised him whatever happened on the bench, sidelines or dugouts was between the coaches and the players and the coaches and the referees and umpires. I’ve been there.
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Andy Morales was recognized by the AIA as the top high school reporter in 2014 and he was awarded the Ray McNally Award in 2017 and he has been a youth, high school and college coach for over 30 years. His own children have won multiple state high school championships and were named to all-state teams. Competing in hockey, basketball, baseball and track & field in high school, his unique perspective can only be found here and on AZPreps365.com. Andy is the Southern Arizona voting member of the Ed Doherty Award, recognizing the top football player in Arizona, and he was named a Local Hero by the Tucson Weekly for 2016. Contact Andy Morales at amoralesmytucson@yahoo.com
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